Most Played Core PC Games in Jan: Blizzard Celebrates 20 Years of Loot as Diablo III Re-Enters

While the top seven games remained the same from December last year, January saw further increases in game session numbers for all but two titles in our Top 20 Most Played Core PC Games ranking. Chart topper League of Legends celebrated the new year with relics from the past by reworking old champion Warwick and offering bundles and legacy skins during the Lunar Revel Event. January also saw the start of the European Challenger Series Qualifiers, in which two teams competed for the last two spots in the 2017 Spring Split. Further interest in the game was likely sparked by the latest big content patches V7.1 and V7.2 and the announcement of a soon-to-be-released fully featured practice mode, which might attract new players to multiplayer matches.

On December 31st, the Diablo franchise celebrated its 20th anniversary and Blizzard commemorated this with special in-game events and goodies in Diablo III and other titles. For the first time since August last year, the game reentered our top 20 at #18. Blizzard teased the Diablo III: Rise of the Necromancer DLC together with a new hero class, capturing players’ attention. Subsequently, player churn from Blizzard Franchises World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and Overwatch to Diablo III increased significantly since last month. More in-depth insights into churn franchises, crossover engagement, and general performance of PC games in several countries can be found in our monthly PC Games Market Monitor.

Blizzard celebrated 20 years of Diablo with cross-game events and awards in almost all its series, including Starcraft II, Diablo III, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch. The latter three titles all saw an increase in game sessions compared to last month, while remaining at #2, #5, and #6 in the rankings, respectively. Hearthstone paid tribute to Diablo with the Dark Wanderer tavern brawl and a card back reward, allowing players to replace the standard design on the reverse of their cards. World of Warcraft commemorated the game with special loot, such as a 12-string guitar that can play music from Diablo III. Overwatch, another Blizzard title in this month’s top 20, paid tribute to Diablo with in-game sprays and a new player icon. As part of a separate game update, players started the year with the new Oasis map that features Overwatch’s first jump pad, allowing them to get high up to strategic game locations.

Battlefield 1 loses another 5 places, while GTA SA:MP gains 3

Like last month, the biggest decline came from FPS Battlefield 1, which dropped another five places. Players experienced some issues with EA’s servers, bringing online play to a stop on different occasions. Popularity may also have dropped due to the game’s anti-cheat system that unfairly banned legitimate players for being too good.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Multiplayer gained three spots in January to #9. The multiplayer mode for the 12-year-old Rockstar Games title took the lead over GTA V, which fell two spots to #10 despite a GTA V Online update and a 50% discount on Steam in early January. ARK: Survival Evolved was also available on Steam at a 60% discount until early January. The open-world action-adventure survival game climbed to #15, thee spots up from last month.

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